April 10, 2008 09:40 am
—
By ERIC AHLQVIST
Editor
For Jim Fort, practice made perfect.
Fort, a senior, threw a no-hitter
Tuesday aginst Ilion, striking out
13 and walking two while winning
for the second time this season.
``I knew I had a no-hitter going,
but I didn’t want to dwell on it or
talk about it,’’ Fort said. ``I just
knocked on wood a couple of
times.’’
In two starts this season, Fort
has 24 strikeouts and just two
walks while yielding just one hit.
He attributed some of his success
to an offseason workout program
with volunteer assistant
coach Glen Noto and senior catcher
Philip Pohl, with whom he met all
winter before school to work on his
pitching mechanics and strategies.
``I made sure I thanked Mr. Noto
this morning,’’ Fort said Wednesday.
``We worked on my motion and
talked about pitching and I appreciate
his help very much.’’
Fort, a three-year player and
tri-captain, said his ``best stuff’’ is
his curveball and change-up, which
he mixes in with his fastball.
``He had good control, and he
went right at the batters,’’ said
Cooperstown baseball coach Frank
Miosek.
Cooperstown second baseman
Josh Pearlman made the best defensive
play in the fifth inning to
save the no-hitter, ranging far to
his right and making a strong
throw to get the runner at first, Miosek
added.
``My defense was great behind
me, and Josh made a couple of nice
plays,’’ Fort said. ``It was a team effort.’’
``Our pitching and defense have
been strong, but the hitting hasn’t
been there yet,’’ Miosek said. ``We’ll
need to start putting the ball in
play and finding some gaps if we
want to keep winning.’’
Cooperstown scored a first inning
run without benefit of a hit,
and added two more runs in the
fifth.
Senior tri-captain Tyler Combs
singled and stole second, and moved
to third on a groundout. Phil Pohl
then drew one of his three walks,
and stole second, putting runners
on second and third.
Clean-up batter Kyle Liner followed
with a double to center, plating
two runs and providing the
winning margin.
Miosek said Liner’s double was
big as teams have been pitching
around Pohl, the reigning Class C
player of the year headed to Clemson
University next year on a baseball
scholarship.
``We may move him up in the order
a little if teams keep pitching
around him, but Kyle can make
them pay too,’’ Miosek said.
Cooperstown opened the season
last Thursday at Little Falls, winning
4-1 as Fort threw a one-hitter.
Cooperstown played at Little
Falls Wednesday, and then are off
for a week for spring break.
Softball loses
another tough one
After opening their season with
a 15-1 win over Laurens last
Wednesday, the Cooperstown softball
team lost a pair of pitching duels
last week to fall to 1-2.
Last Thursday, CCS lost a 2-0
home decision to Little Falls, despite
a nine strikeout, one walk two
hit performance from freshman
pitcher Anna Sams.
Both of Little Falls’ runs were
unearned.
``It was kind of a cold, windy day,
and our bats never got going,’’ said
CCS softball coach Dave Bliss. ``We
had the bases loaded in one inning,
and had other chances, but didn’t
get the big hit.
Senior Samantha Fox had both
of Cooperstown’s hits.
On Tuesday, the Lady Redskins
lost a 3-1 decision to Ilion, also at
home.
Cooperstown took a 1-0 lead
when Stephanie Hascup singled,
stole second and scored on Sawyer
Graham’s single, but did not get a
hit the rest of the way.
Ilion scored two unearned runs
off Cooperstown starter Cailin
Huggins in the second innings.
Huggins pitched four innings, and
Sams pitched the final three, striking
out the final seven batters she
faced.
``We’re hitting the ball hard, but
just right at people,’’ Bliss said.
``Hopefully, that will start to turn
around. We only have four players
with varsity experience, so I expect
that we’ll hit better as the season
progresses.’’
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